Flashback | Phish On Austin City Limits 2000

Shortly after Phish finished Summer Tour in 2000, the quartet headed down to Austin to tape their debut appearance for the long-running music television show Austin City Limits. The band performed 20 songs at the taping, 10 of which were broadcast on the October 14, 2000 episode of ACL. Earlier today Phil J. uploaded the most complete version of Phish’s Austin City Limits taping currently found on YouTube, which includes a number of songs that weren’t aired on the actual episode.

The clip below starts just after the “First Tube” opener, which was marred with technical difficulties. The Vermonters wound up performing the song to conclude their two-hour set. Guitarist Trey Anastasio seems extremely excited throughout the set, telling the crowd how much appearing on Austin City Limits means to the band. A fun moment happens after “Piper,” when Anastasio tells the crowd the reason they won’t play “Mound” and another song (we can’t make out the request) is because they “forgot them” and goes on to say that they want to re-learn them but “practice sucks.” Trey goes on to tell the audience they are going off the setlist they wrote before the show to “blow off a little steam” just prior to the quartet’s performance of “Down With Disease.”

The video on YouTube comes from a VHS tape and suffers from an audio hum and video degradation. However, it’s still a fun watch of the band’s lone Austin City Limits appearance. Check it out:

Set 1: First Tube (missing), My Soul, Limb By Limb, Horn, Heavy Things, Back on the Train, Beauty of My Dreams, Gotta Jibboo, Piper, Down with Disease, The Inlaw Josie Wales, Driver, When the Circus Comes, Twist, Sleep, Chalk Dust Torture, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Possum, Character Zero, First Tube (cuts)

Notes: This was a taping for the television show Austin City Limits. Beauty of My Dreams was botched and restarted. Due to technical difficulties, First Tube was played a second time. After Piper, Trey responded to some fan requests and noted that the band saw Béla Fleck tape a performance for Austin City Limits in 1993. When the Circus Comes was dedicated to Los Lobos. The episode was first aired on October 14, 2000 to kick off the show’s 26th season. The broadcast included Beauty of My Dreams, My Soul, The Inlaw Josie Wales, Limb by Limb, When the Circus Comes, Back on the Train, Twist, Possum, Sleep, and First Tube.

[Setlist and notes via Phish.net / Hat Tip -Phil Johnson]